Radiator Replaced!

scott-o · September 5, 2020

Well i've had the car nearly a month now and the radiator has been niggling away at me after seeing a few posts on this forum, i ordered the parts mid last month and they all showed up yesterday. Apparently there's been a spike in people ordering them!

It's a relatively easy job, just a methodical approach and time is needed, of course tools etc too. A friend has a ramp in his garage which made getting under the car very easy, only needed to get the transmission cooler hoses and bottom rad hose off though, easily done on axle stands.

IMG_20200904_170221 by Scott Osborne, on Flickr

There was no need to take the wheels off but mine were on the wrong sides so swapped them over whilst in the air! Was interested to see they are labelled up which corner they should be on!

IMG_20200904_170640 by Scott Osborne, on Flickr

Old one out:

IMG_20200904_175420 by Scott Osborne, on Flickr

IMG_20200904_175351 by Scott Osborne, on Flickr

Waterpump is all good! Replaced in the past under warranty:

IMG_20200904_175703 by Scott Osborne, on Flickr

Funnily enough we noticed i was missing a few trim clips as we took apart what we needed to, turned out i had 7 of them sat in the airbox pre filter! I can only assume they've been there since the pump was done some 45k ago!

Fans swapped over onto the new rad, we had to drill and tap out the rivnuts on this where the transmission cooler lines attach, now attached with stainless m6 bolts which you can just make out in the third picture.

IMG_20200904_181746 by Scott Osborne, on Flickr

IMG_20200904_181756 by Scott Osborne, on Flickr

IMG_20200904_184703 by Scott Osborne, on Flickr

Going back together, you get a new expansion tank with the radiator and i fitted a new air filter and gave the throttle body a wipe whilst we were in there:

IMG_20200904_192856 by Scott Osborne, on Flickr

All done, in a much better state than last time it left Lexus, now with properly secured trim pieces and a surplus of trim clips! :

IMG_20200904_194417 by Scott Osborne, on Flickr

Radiator was £268 from memory and coolant maybe another £30ish (6L needed), i bought 1L of atf fluid too, only used 50ml or so into the cooler before refitting to make up the small amount that dripped out. Lexus Parts Direct have been great for parts. All in for £310ish and a few hours, happy with that!

Texas · September 5, 2020

Well done that man for getting ‘amongst’ it with the spanner’s and not having to sell a kidney for Lexus to do it! You can sleep soundly now I bet!

m4rkw · September 5, 2020

Nice work, I'm so jealous of the space and the tooling to be able to do stuff like this. One day..

Northern isf · September 5, 2020

Good write up, definitely on my list to do.

scott-o · September 5, 2020

11 hours ago, Texas said:

Well done that man for getting ‘amongst’ it with the spanner’s and not having to sell a kidney for Lexus to do it! You can sleep soundly now I bet!

Thanks and yes definitely feel more at peace when I'm driving it now, needed another litre of coolant today and all good (besides spilling a little bit!)

Also did the cabin filter today as I got one in the service kit, really like how well thought out these cars are!

10 hours ago, m4rkw said:

Nice work, I'm so jealous of the space and the tooling to be able to do stuff like this. One day..

Thanks, my mates set up is much better than mine haha I literally have a Halfords tool kit and other bits Ive picked up along the way but have built an old BMW with what I have. A Halfords toolkit is a good place to start!

12 minutes ago, Northern isf said:

Good write up, definitely on my list to do.

Cheers, glad it's of some interest to some people. First time in a long time ive enjoyed doing a job on a regularly used in all weathers car!

4969_LXS · September 5, 2020

@scott-o thanks for putting this on here. I'll be doing mine at home when the parts arrive, this will help a lot.

Couple of questions from me.

Other than the radiator fan rivnuts, is there anything else you found that might be a pain?

Did you plug the transmission lines with anything to stop them leaking once removed from the old radiator, if so how big of an item did you put in? Or did you use clamps on the hoses to close them off?

scott-o · September 5, 2020

44 minutes ago, 4969_LXS said:

@scott-o thanks for putting this on here. I'll be doing mine at home when the parts arrive, this will help a lot.

Couple of questions from me.

Other than the radiator fan rivnuts, is there anything else you found that might be a pain?

Did you plug the transmission lines with anything to stop them leaking once removed from the old radiator, if so how big of an item did you put in? Or did you use clamps on the hoses to close them off?

No problem, glad it's of some help! There's a video on YouTube that picks most of it up if you haven't seen it already? It does seem to miss off the parts about what exactly you undo to get the cross bar section off completely. We unclipped all the wiring/ bonnet latch etc off it to remove it completely, including the sensor for the variable cruise etc. Need to take the horns off for better access if doing this, it's all just methodical when you've got it Infront of you.

I had some spare M12 x 1.5 wheel studs so screwed those into the lines to plug them. You'll spill a tiny bit of oil out the lines but the cooler doesn't really seem to contain more than a dribble, think we caught/ estimated around 40ml tops that we lost, if that. The new radiator comes with little rubber caps on the ends but they have a tiny hole in so we put 40ml into the cooler and used those caps with nitrile glove fingers over the top until the radiator was in place, then quickly fitted the lines. I don't really like clamping hoses but being honest these ones are nice and soft and wouldnt see an issue doing that either.

It's genuinely quite straight forward though when it's in front of you, you'll be fine with it!

scott-o · September 5, 2020

Oh and getting the condenser back onto the rad was a bit of a chew with the new foam, if you screw the 2 bottom bolts in by literally a thread you can slot it on and do the bolts up. I'd also recommend a second person, definitely made life easier but equally it's doable on your own!

gb1600e · September 6, 2020

Great write up @scott-o so I guess I should be onto Lexus Parts Direct. I fancy a pair of those ramps too. What brand are they if I might ask.

scott-o · September 7, 2020

18 hours ago, gb1600e said:

Great write up @scott-o so I guess I should be onto Lexus Parts Direct. I fancy a pair of those ramps too. What brand are they if I might ask.

Thanks and i dont know but i can ask him for you and get back. He had them flushed into the floor when he had his garage built, it's a really nice space to work in.

My set up at home is much less posh but i can recommend these, just under £1k at Costco and relatively portable, gets the car 500mm in the air which is plenty for most things. I'd have been happy doing the radiator at home on them but was nice to have some company and not have to leave the old bmw out on the street etc.

IMG_20190808_170825 by Scott Osborne, on Flickr

IMG_20191218_124105 by Scott Osborne, on Flickr

gb1600e · September 7, 2020

18 minutes ago, scott-o said:

Thanks and i dont know but i can ask him for you and get back. He had them flushed into the floor when he had his garage built, it's a really nice space to work in.

My set up at home is much less posh but i can recommend these, just under £1k at Costco and relatively portable, gets the car 500mm in the air which is plenty for most things. I'd have been happy doing the radiator at home on them but was nice to have some company and not have to leave the old bmw out on the street etc.

IMG_20190808_170825 by Scott Osborne, on Flickr

IMG_20191218_124105 by Scott Osborne, on Flickr

Cheers. I think it's the ones you have I have seen before. Off to Costco for me then. Love the BMW too.

Womble72 · September 9, 2020

On 9/5/2020 at 8:45 AM, scott-o said:

Well i've had the car nearly a month now and the radiator has been niggling away at me after seeing a few posts on this forum, i ordered the parts mid last month and they all showed up yesterday. Apparently there's been a spike in people ordering them!

It's a relatively easy job, just a methodical approach and time is needed, of course tools etc too. A friend has a ramp in his garage which made getting under the car very easy, only needed to get the transmission cooler hoses and bottom rad hose off though, easily done on axle stands.

IMG_20200904_170221 by Scott Osborne, on Flickr

There was no need to take the wheels off but mine were on the wrong sides so swapped them over whilst in the air! Was interested to see they are labelled up which corner they should be on!

IMG_20200904_170640 by Scott Osborne, on Flickr

Old one out:

IMG_20200904_175420 by Scott Osborne, on Flickr

IMG_20200904_175351 by Scott Osborne, on Flickr

Waterpump is all good! Replaced in the past under warranty:

IMG_20200904_175703 by Scott Osborne, on Flickr

Funnily enough we noticed i was missing a few trim clips as we took apart what we needed to, turned out i had 7 of them sat in the airbox pre filter! I can only assume they've been there since the pump was done some 45k ago!

Fans swapped over onto the new rad, we had to drill and tap out the rivnuts on this where the transmission cooler lines attach, now attached with stainless m6 bolts which you can just make out in the third picture.

IMG_20200904_181746 by Scott Osborne, on Flickr

IMG_20200904_181756 by Scott Osborne, on Flickr

IMG_20200904_184703 by Scott Osborne, on Flickr

Going back together, you get a new expansion tank with the radiator and i fitted a new air filter and gave the throttle body a wipe whilst we were in there:

IMG_20200904_192856 by Scott Osborne, on Flickr

All done, in a much better state than last time it left Lexus, now with properly secured trim pieces and a surplus of trim clips! :

IMG_20200904_194417 by Scott Osborne, on Flickr

Radiator was £268 from memory and coolant maybe another £30ish (6L needed), i bought 1L of atf fluid too, only used 50ml or so into the cooler before refitting to make up the small amount that dripped out. Lexus Parts Direct have been great for parts. All in for £310ish and a few hours, happy with that!

And this is why I don’t like main dealers! 🤔.......I’ll let Karl know 😂.......he will be gutted as he is a main dealer person to a degree 🙄.....although the water pump would of been pre his ownership......good information BUT personally I’d couldn’t do it 😂......I’d be questioning my every move, Westfield for mine IF I go down that avenue.

scott-o · September 10, 2020

10 hours ago, Womble72 said:

And this is why I don’t like main dealers! 🤔.......I’ll let Karl know 😂.......he will be gutted as he is a main dealer person to a degree 🙄.....although the water pump would of been pre his ownership......good information BUT personally I’d couldn’t do it 😂......I’d be questioning my every move, Westfield for mine IF I go down that avenue.

haha yes i'm the same, i've not had a car serviced once at a main dealers, costs 2-3 times as much and i dont even think things get done half of the time (speaking of VW anyway after looking over a young lads golf gti at work after it had been in). The air and pollen filters were both awful on this car even though the last few services i know Karl has paid to have done at Lexus, whether they do actually get that dirty that quick i dont know. Even so there's been 7 trim clips sat in there that no one changing the filter has ever picked up 😂

Me and my friend did have this conversation whilst doing the radiator and did say that in the dealers defense we will always do a better job as we arent constrained by time. I'm sure Lexus book time is 2-2.5 hours and i think we spent 4 but did tidy up and sort out other little jobs, which dealers would have just left. It's one of those jobs if we did it again though we'd easy knock over an hour off that. A shame you're not closer as we did say now we've done mine we'd be happy to do others at reasonable cost!

I did get a service plan quote from Lexus out of interest and it was £1150 for the next 2 services (full service and intermediate), parts for these 2 services from Lexus Parts Direct come to £340 so it's £800+ labour to change filters, oil, plugs and coolant, albeit oil/oil filter twice.

It'll be going to a local specialists for the oil/ oil filter change with genuine parts from LPD next month, the rest of the intermediate service and more was done during rad install. (Which is a bit of a shame as Lexus have made it really easy to do the oil/ filter yourself too and we would have done it at the same time but with no stamp from a VAT registered garage future buyers wouldnt touch it ironically). Then the one after as it approaches 100k ill buy the full service kit and get the local specialists to do all that and all in i reckon it'll be 6-700 for the 2 services at an absolute max. I'm not even tight with money, which is why i'll never be rich 😂 but i'm not willing to waste it when there's 0 benefit.

4969_LXS · September 28, 2020

Hi all,

I replaced my radiator and water pump with a friend over the weekend at home on axle stands. Wasn't too bad, there is plenty of knowledge and diagrams across this forum, YouTube and the American forum.

My radiator looked worse for wear, I think the transmission fluid lines were not far off from snapping off the radiator. That's on a 2008 with 66k miles for reference.

JonP · September 28, 2020

Wow, that does look like it was just in time...

Womble72 · October 9, 2020

On 9/28/2020 at 7:25 PM, 4969_LXS said:

Hi all,

I replaced my radiator and water pump with a friend over the weekend at home on axle stands. Wasn't too bad, there is plenty of knowledge and diagrams across this forum, YouTube and the American forum.

My radiator looked worse for wear, I think the transmission fluid lines were not far off from snapping off the radiator. That's on a 2008 with 66k miles for reference.

After seeing this I’ve booked mine into my local Indy for replacement, mines 68k 2008 and this issue is across the board on all Toyota/Lexus auto cars, my Indy said at 100k they would of recommend me about the replacement, there is nothing in the maintenance schedule to indicate the above BUT they advise as it’s a common issue.....quoted £526 n some pennies, booked in for the 3/11.

RobISF · October 9, 2020

Had mine done a few weeks ago too, previous one showed signs of some slight weeping. Lexus Edinburgh was £570 ish

Womble72 · October 9, 2020

2 hours ago, RobISF said:

Had mine done a few weeks ago too, previous one showed signs of some slight weeping. Lexus Edinburgh was £570 ish

That’s a very good price!.....Lexus wanted nearly £1200 down here 😳

Cactus · October 10, 2020

Where do we source the radiator?

barry

Womble72 · October 10, 2020

Just now, Cactus said:

Where do we source the radiator?

barry

Can only answer for my situation, Westfield said it was a main dealer part only 🤷🏼‍♂️.......Scott-o maybe able to help more

AnCarraig · October 10, 2020

1 hour ago, Cactus said:

Where do we source the radiator?

barry

U could try Lexus Parts Direct, think they were sold out at one stage.

4969_LXS · October 10, 2020

Hi guys,

I got my radiator and other parts from Lexus parts direct.

They were on back order when I ordered them in August, it arrived in September but things may have changed since then.

ColinBarber · October 10, 2020

Given that you are unlikely to ever need to undo the transmission fluid lines from the radiator, once you have replaced the radiator I'd be tempted to paint over the tails and the nut with something like Smoothrite to protect it from corrosion.

RobISF · October 10, 2020

21 hours ago, Womble72 said:

That’s a very good price!.....Lexus wanted nearly £1200 down here 😳

😱

Worth the trip up, ask for Pat! I got my club discount on top of that too, so was probably a bit less than the quote (had service and mot done too, £818 all in, I ignored what the cost breakdown was)

scott-o · October 10, 2020

Yes lexus parts direct for radiator, like I say low to mid 300's for all parts (rad, coolant and I bought some ATF just in case)

It seems some pattern parts are available but I think the costs from Lexus are pretty good and you get the coolant tank with it too.

There's no way I'd be paying a premium for Lexus to fit it though (5-600 is a good price but anything more is taking liberties), it's a pretty easy job that any garage should find easy enough!